I opened my laptop for unrelated reasons and was greeted by a slightly bloated battery. Idk if the picture makes it clear, but the individual segments of the battery have slightly raised above the solid structure pieces in between. Laptop is just over a year old. I have already contacted the manufacturer, but with the holidays and everything I'm not sure when I'll get an answer.
Basically, I'm worried about the potential danger. I use my laptop a lot (usually plugged in). Since the battery seems to be screwed in and not glued, I could just take it out, but idk if that would be better than just leaving it in until the manufacturer sends me a new one or has me send it in for battery replacement.
Also, I hope that consumer hardware posts like this are accepted in this community. The rules at least don't state otherwise.
Edit: thank you all for your comments. I brought the bloated battery to a recycling center the day after I made this post. Communication with Medion support eventually led to me talking to a very pleasant service technician on the phone. He sent me a new battery, which I just installed. Everything is working great again.
The battery will most likely not explode, but just ignite. The melting of the chemicals and metals just gets really really hot, so anything else around it will start to burn eventually. So don’t treat it like a bomb, more like a very hot iron. If you can, find a temporary spot for the battery. Maybe in a garage or basement. If also possible, use a metal container. Dirt/sand is also a good option.
I feel like Lemmy is hitting a critical mass, where "am Y, [explanation]" followed by an informal AMA is starting to happen, and it's great to see!